TORONTO — Since they were on the road at the time, Alex Ovechkin and his teammates missed out on attending the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at Washington’s Verizon Center over the weekend.

No matter. On Tuesday morning, they were part of their own three-ring — or, this being an Olympic issue, five-ring sideshow — courtesy of the NHL’s decision a day earlier not to attend the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea.

Ovechkin, you see, is the ringleader of those players who still plan on attending the Games, NHL be damned. At least that’s how he is perceived by his colleagues behind closed doors.

And so, on this soggy spring Toronto day, with the hallway outside the Capitals dressing room at the Air Canada Centre so clogged with cameras and microphones that there was no room to walk past, Ovechkin looked at the media circus in front of him, flashed his trademark all-this-for me? sarcastic smile, then did what Alex Ovechkin always does.

He is refusing to back down.

For months, Ovechkin has said he planned on going to PyeongChang no matter what the league decided. The NHL allegedly made its choice Monday. Ovechkin made his a long time ago.

“I didn’t change my mind and I won’t,” he said with a quiet confidence.

Why?

“Because it’s my country,” he said, playing the Russian patriotism card. “I think everyone wants to play there. It’s the biggest opportunity in your life to play in the Olympic Games.

“So, I don’t know, somebody is going to tell me they don’t go, I don’t care, I just go.”

Standing at the back of the media pack listening to Ovechkin’s words were a couple of executives with the NHLPA.

While they wouldn’t admit it publicly, they had to like what they were hearing. After all, less than 24 hours earlier, the union had released a statement ripping the league for pulling out of the Olympics.

Question is, how official is the NHL’s so-called “official” closing of the books on this issue? The league claims it is moving ahead with its plans for the 2017-18 schedule but we’ve yet to see one.

And neither has Ovechkin, who remains cautiously optimistic a deal between the NHL and IOC can still be struck.

“I hope so,” Ovechkin said. “There’s still a long time to make a decision. You can say whatever but in the next-year’s-schedule is not out there yet …

“But in my mind, I’m going. It doesn’t matter what.”

To Ovechkin’s point, don't abandon all hope: In an interview with the InsideTheGames website, International Ice Hockey Federation secretary-general Horst Lichtner said the two sides “are still in discussions.”

“Gary (Bettman) said on the phone, our playoffs are starting this weekend and we want them to concentrate on the sport,” he added, “so they said let’s put an end to this whole thing … But he also said that if there was anything substantial changing now, with that statement, he is ready to discuss.

“If we have some movement from all the sides, we could still do it.”

Ovechkin plans on “doing it” either way.

And he has the backing of Caps owner Ted Leonsis, who told Postmedia at the NHL’s December Board of Governors Meetings in Florida that “he’s like family. He’s done a lot for our team and I support him if that’s what he chooses to do.”

For its part, the league sent out memos to team executives to keep mum about players who say they will go.

One of those could very well be the Caps’ Evgeny Kuznetsov, who placed his hand on his chest when asked if he would follow in Ovechkin’s footsteps.

“Of course, if Russia needs us, of course,” Kuznetsov said, still emotional from the terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg on Monday. “It’s from the heart for Russian people. We’ll see though, maybe they’ll let us go.”

That might be easier said than done.

According to a tweet from Sport-Express hockey writer Igor Eronko, Hockey Russia’s vice-president told Eronko that “Ovechkin’s willing to go to (the Olympics) won’t be enough to join Team Russia. NHL has to agree to that.”

For Caps centre Nicklas Backstrom, the situation is frustrating, to say the least.

After being forced to sit out Sweden’s gold medal game against Canada at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, when he failed a drug test because of his sinus medication — a situation the IOC later blamed the Swedish team doctor for — South Korea would have been a chance for retribution.

Asked about the Sochi incident, Backstrom, who remained noncommittal when quizzed on if he would go to the 2018 Games regardless, replied: "That was not a fun situation."

Neither is this.

HOLTBY NOT JOINING OVI

Braden Holtby grew up dreaming of hoisting a Stanley Cup, not having an Olympic gold medal dangling around his neck.

And while being a part of a championship team at the Winter Games would be a memorable achievement, it pales in comparison to having your name engraved on hockey’s Holy Grail.

Don’t get him wrong: Holtby respects the choice of Alex Ovechkin or other players if they opt to go to South Korea against the NHL’s wishes. But he certainly has no plans to do so.

“I have no idea if guys will or not, that’s a personal decision, (but) I wouldn’t be able to go away from my team here,” the Washington Capitals goalie said Tuesday. “I couldn’t do it. That’s just personal. But everyone’s priorities are different. (Ovechkin) plays a big role on Team Russia.

“As for me, I’ve always liked the group that I’ve been with through the year. That’s my No. 1 focus.”

Holtby, a Vezina Trophy candidate, served as the No. 3 goalie for Canada at the World Cup back in September.